Argyll gets rare bearded seal visitor to Mull

Normally resident in the Arctic, a male bearded seal has been discovered visiting the Isle of Mull. Visitors are described as ‘flocking’ (should it be ‘shoaling’?) to Loch na Keal to see it hauled out, basking on the rocks and rolling in the water. Its spectacular whiskers and beard – long, strong and distinguishably single strands – are used as a set of ‘feelers’ to discover the presence of prey on the seabed. There have only been three or four sightings of the bearded seal in Scotland in the last twenty years and David Woodhouse, who runs Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions, says that he’s not seen one around Mull in twenty five years.